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As I thought of it, I couldn’t recall ever hearing Demi talk about another boy.
“What are you thinking?” my mom asked. “Do you know who could’ve hurt Demi?”
“I don’t know if he hurt her or why he would, but the only person who comes to mind is Ace.”
“Ace Knight?” My mom’s blues bulged. “Cobra’s son?”
“Yep.” I nodded and twisted my lips. The little fucker better not have touched my little sister. If Demi hated him and swore off bikers, my gut told me she might have given Ace her V-card, then he ghosted her.
“I don’t want to think about what might have happened. It would all be speculation. I’m going to go check on your dad and Dez.” She left with her brow furrowed.
Ace Steel Knight.
Shit.
6
Birdie
“I swear he’ll regret never making a move when he’s lost me.”
“Don’t say that. It feels like voodoo foreshadowing.” She shook her arms at her sides like chasing the evil energy away.
I snorted and arranged the new outfits that arrived this morning in the front window display. My gaze darted from the mannequin and then to the right. Half a block down the road, I could see his cobalt blue, lifted Chevy pickup parked at the diner he ate at every stinking day.
Every day.
Sometimes twice a day.
Always when I was working at the boutique.
“There must be someone he likes seeing there because Bastion Bites isn’t the only place in town to eat at.” Although I did love their pancakes. But. I would never eat there every day like Raymond.
Stop obsessing over Raymond!
Thank goodness Snow, the owner of Sister Chic Boutique, wasn’t here. If she heard me talking this way about Raymond, she’d tell my mom. Then my dad would find out and probably Chase. The whole club would know I was in love with Raymond, and he’d hate me for blabbing. His words played in my head, “Not a word, Birdie. We’ll never speak of Florida. Promise you’ll keep what happened a secret.” Of course, I had agreed.
Nobody, except Ember and now maybe her mom, knew how I truly felt about Raymond. How I was desperately, madly, and hopelessly in love with him.
“Em? Did you hear me? Do you think he goes because there’s a gorgeous server he’s after?” My stomach twisted into a knot. I hated how crazy Raymond made me. I shouldn’t care if he went to Bastion Bites every freaking day. He was single, and like most single guys, he ate out.
“Mhm.”
“Gah! He’s there because of a woman? I’ll always be invisible to him. I should just move away. Go back to Florida. Sing at the beach day and night to earn money, then stuff my face at the Waffle House like I did that weekend. We had a gig in Panama City during spring break.”
It had been the farthest we’d ever traveled for a gig. We’d been on fire the whole trip. The night before we returned home, Raymond had confessed he’d wanted me since I’d turned eighteen. I was almost twenty-one then and couldn’t believe my ears.
Yes, he’d been drunker than a skunk as he poured his heart out to me. And hell yes, I’d jumped at the chance to get naked with him.
That had been the most epic night of my life, but when I woke up the next morning, I was alone in bed. Still naked and I smelled like his cum. Fucking Raymond had snuck out at the crack of dawn. For the rest of our trip, he’d acted like nothing had happened. He wouldn’t even look me in the eyes. Guilt and regret had rolled off him in massive waves. He never talked about Florida.
It was truly ironic how Bastion Bites reminded me of the Waffle House, only they served mass amounts of pancakes instead of waffles. I guess that was why I didn’t eat there very often; it reminded me too much of Florida and my one night with Raymond.
Ember gasped. “Did you say move away?”
“Wow. Talk about a delayed reaction. Yes, I did.” I forced myself not to check if Raymond was still at the diner. It’d only been a minute. I was confident he was still there stuffing his face with my favorite pancakes, while drooling over some chick I hated, even though I didn’t know her.
“Sorry. I don’t think he’s hot for a gorgeous server. But you can’t move.”
